National Journal: 10/6: Off Come The Gloves

National Journal

10/6: Off Come The Gloves

Conservative bloggers were delighted by Sarah Palin’s incendiary remarks aboutBarack Obama, in which she invoked his ties to ex-Weatherman William Ayersand accused the Dem nominee of “pallin’ around with terrorists”. Righty bloggers have been discussing Obama’s connection to Ayers for months, and they’re pleased that John McCain’s campaign is finally willing to “go there.” Matt Lewis echoes the views of many conservative bloggers when he writes: “If McCain is going to have a chance to win this race, he will need to take the gloves off — or at least — empower Palin to do so.” Liberal bloggers are responding to Palin’s remarks by arguing that she is in no position to portray Obama as un-American, considering that her husbandTodd Palin was a member of a secessionist organization.

Liberal bloggers aren’t surprised by McCain’s “newly aggressive assault on Sen. Barack Obama’s character”. Oliver Willis writes: “Did anyone with even half of a brain not see this coming?…McCain is going to throw mud. It is what Republicans do when elections come down to crunch time.” Still, liberal bloggers are criticizing McCain for adopting this strategy, arguing that he is damaging his reputation in a desperate attempt to reverse his slide in the polls. Most lefty bloggers are confident that these tactics won’t work, and they’re applauding Obama for hitting back hard with his“Keating Five” web video.